One of the main objectives of JPG Photography is to provide businesses and nonprofit organizations the photojournalistic story-telling services they need, even when time and resources can be limited. So when we were invited to document an event at the White House complex in Washington D.C., as a collaboration between Points of Light and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Faith Office to spread #probono, (hashtag probono) we were honored and excited to see how our missions aligned with so many major corporations and small businesses.

Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, focuses on finding locations for willing volunteers to provide their expertise, be it in crunching numbers or building homes. They teamed up with the U.S. Department of Commerce for “Pro Bono Service: Harnessing Time and Talent for Social Good” based on the importance of pro bono services. Representatives from companies ranging in size from the small (Raffa Accounting) to massive, (IBM), attended.

These are industry leaders and major corporations working alongside local mom-and-pop-shops, towards the same goal of maximizing outreach efforts for their employees. About four years ago, Points of Light took on the management for the Billion + Change campaign, where it requested 500 companies to pledge $1 billion in skills-based and pro bono service. They quintupled their participation goal, and doubled their financing goal through American businesses alone. Think of how these possibilities would support local neighborhoods through impactful work.

At last week’s event, we heard from some of the most inspirational leaders of the pro bono movement. Leaders from major corporations like IBM, HP and ConAgra Foods discussed the importance of giving back to communities, and how they can make a difference through these means. These leaders find their workers wanting time from their schedules to tackle these critical issues in education, poverty and environment.

Tracey Hoover, CEO of Points of Light, made a great declaration that called pro bono work an important social innovation, where companies “address the reality of scarce resources, limited time and increased needs that so many nonprofits feel.”

At JPG, we understand how to work with organizations with limited resources, and we are eager to develop the visuals to showcase the good work an organization, and its most important resource – the people – produce. With our years in newspaper and event experience, we know how to capture the visuals — both still and motion — your organization needs to make it stand out and reward the good deeds everyone can be proud to share.

It was an absolute honor to be a documentarian for this event inside the Indian Treaty Room at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, As a supporter of this program and an optimist for the future of nonprofit, charitable and pro bono work, we were pleased to meet so many like minds, and must thank the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships for providing the resources for the meeting. Follow our nonprofit photography on this Blog.

We look forward to the amazing adventures, which came out of the event. And follow this link on Billion + Change campaign, including industry-leading resources from Taproot, here.